The Moonlight Swordsman

"What do you mean he is siding with the Paul family?" Aizel asked as he looked toward Lucas. He believed that Mathew would have joined them for the rewards, as he didn't know that guy well.

But Lucas was different; he was in the same group with Alisha and Harry for so many years, and now he was going to fight against them.

"Is it for the reward? Help me instead, Lucas. I can pay you better than they can. Whatever you need, just tell me."

"This is not about the reward, Aizel. This door behind leads to the basement, where all the ones who have been kidnapped by the Paul family are kept." He said while gritting his teeth, it appears like he was struggling with something.

Aizel stared at him with a confused gaze. If this guy was really against them, then why was he telling him about the room? Clearly, he knew how strong Aizel was.

"Should we just knock them out?" Aizel said to Alisha.

"No, you have to kill us if you want to go ahead; we are going to die anyways. At least I will fight like a warrior before I die." Mathew said as he rushed towards Aizel with his spear.

Alisha stood there like a statue; her gaze fixed on Lucas.

"You… why are you going to die?" Aizel dodged the spear thrust with his sword.

Mathew started condensing mana on the tip of the spear and started thrusting it with more speed toward Aizel's vitals.

Lucas also summoned his weapon and headed straight for Alisha.

"Damn it!" Alisha ran backward. She knew she wouldn't be able to fight Lucas at close range.

"Why are you doing this, Lucas?" Alisha shouted; she was shooting arrows around Lucas's limbs, trying to immobilize him as he ran.

"I didn't want to do this either, but I'm helpless," Lucas said while enhancing his speed with mana.

Aizel noticed Lucas getting closer and closer to Alisha. He was constantly dodging spear techniques without counterattacking. He wanted to know why they were doing this.

He used a little lightning around him, which scared Mathew and he quickly backed away, Aizel ran towards Lucas and blocked his mace, which was going to land on Alisha.

Mathew saw this; he didn't want to do it, but he still rushed toward Aizel. They started clashing their weapons.

It was slowly getting harder to fight against both Mathew and Lucas without trying to hurt them.

Alisha shot arrows from far away toward them. Mathew easily intercepted with his spear.

"Aizel, just kill us before it's late; the little girl is still there," Lucas said.

Aizel felt a little relief in his mind after hearing about Emma.

"Why are you gonna die? Is someone blackmailing you?" Aizel asked as he again dodged the mace while parrying the spear thrust.

Slowly, from time to time, the spear was grazing at his body. Aizel was not very proficient with his sword yet and fighting two at the same time was a lot harder than he expected.

Finally, one of the arrows hit Mathew's left leg, making him stumble a little. Aizel quickly took advantage of the situation.

He kicked Lucas away and he quickly grabbed the spear with his left hand, placed his left foot behind Mathew's foot, and made him fall to the ground.

"I finally got you; let me knock you out first," Aizel murmured.

But before he could do that, Mathew summoned a small dagger and quickly sliced his own throat.

Aizel saw him choking on blood as tears streamed from Mathew's eyes. The whole thing made Aizel's face pale.

"Why did you do that?" He quickly summoned a healing potion and attempted to use it on his throat, but it did not work.

"Aizel, watch out!" Alisha shouted.

Aizel heard her as he rolled to the side. The mace swung down where he was before and smashed Mathew's face in pieces.

Aizel looked at Lucas, who was crying but still kept attacking in a frenzy.

"Someone is manipulating them like puppets," Alisha said.

"Damn this Paul family!" Aizel said. He quickly used lightning all over his body and rushed toward Lucas.

Lucas swung down his mace. Aizel easily dodged it with his speed and slashed Lucas's hand in one clean cut.

He made him fall to the ground in the same manner and held his other hand tightly.

"You guys should have told me about this from the beginning," Aizel said.

Lucas was struggling with his grip as he spoke weakly.

"That bitch was trying to keep our mouth shut. I am sorr..." but suddenly Lucas bit his own tongue using mana.

Aizel watched in horror. He tried to use the healing potion again, but it didn't work this time either.

He banged his fist into the floor repeatedly.

"WHY WHY WHY?" He couldn't believe he watched the two of them die right in front of him without being able to do a single thing.

"Aizel, go and save the ones who are trapped down in the basement; we can't afford to have remorse right now; but we will make them pay for their crimes," Alisha said. She quickly stored their bodies in her storage ring.

Aizel stood up and stared down the Iron Door with hatred. Alisha ran towards the upper floor of the castle, leaving Aizel behind.

"Alora was right; I was naive to make light of her advice. I should have taken it more seriously the day I saw what the bandits did with the villagers.

"If that's what you want, I will show no mercy from now on." The air around Aizel became dense.

Aizel was letting his imagination run wild for the first time.

He kicked the iron door with his bare foot and the door broke and went flying.

"Huh, what was that?"

"Did someone break the door?" The hunters who were in the underground basement heard the loud metal noise.

"Let's check it; we have to make sure no one enters the cellar area."

They took the stairs and headed straight up toward the Iron door. Aizel was slowly walking down the stairs when he heard several footsteps approaching him.

The hunters saw a single guy who was coming towards them with a blank expression on his face.

"Hehe, it's just one guy. Someone go get rid of him." One of the guys said.

"Let me do it, I was getting bored anyway while everyone is out there having fun."